Enemy Now
by AndromedaAI
Summary: Erica Strong wakes up in a lab, on another planet, with her features altered to make her look like a Romulan. The Romulans want her to infiltrate the Federation and relay them information, but how is she to do that when she's, mentally, three hundred years behind? If she doesn't do it though, a chip in her chest will genetically alter her into a real Romulan, an enemy of her race.


**Hey, y'all! This is my attempt at a Next Generation story. Came on a whim when I ended up watching one Romulan episode after another—I believe the inspiration has something to do with the episode "Face of the Enemy", but what do I know? I can pull inspiration from anywhere.**

**First chapter's short and sweet, but I promise that the next chapter will be longer. I love to write long chapters. But I always have a problem with getting the first chapter right…**

**Here's some neat trivia about this story—the title of every chapter will be written in Romulan. Then underneath it, I will write the English translation. **

**I hope you enjoy!**

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**Enemy Now**

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**I – Crawae'enh Mnueieri – I  
"Feeling Threatened"**

The first thing she heard were quiet whisperings as she woke up. Her contemplative mind slowly picked the voices apart and knew that they did not belong to her parents. Or her younger brother. She briefly wondered if she had left her window open the night before and was just hearing the conversation of a small group of walkers that was passing below it.

But when she slowly cracked her eyes open, she knew that something was wrong. She was lying on an incredibly hard surface, and her forehead and ears felt funny. The ceiling itself said a lot, since the ceiling she was staring at was not decorated with the popcorn texture her bedroom ceiling had been, instead it looked to be made of metal.

Her chest seemed to constrict as panic tried to take over. Where was she? How did she get there?

"Ah, good, you're awake," a voice said before a man stepped into her view. The man was strange. He was tall, had black hair cut into some sort of a bowl-cut, pointy ears, sharply angled eyebrows, and two dull ridges on his forehead, branching out and up from between his eyebrows in a 'V'. "Erica Strong, I presume?"

She stared at him, unsure of what to say. But she opened her mouth anyway. "Yes…" she croaked. Her throat suddenly felt very dry, like she had just tried to swallow a dessert.

He smiled at her, and she could tell he was happy. She didn't know why, and she would like to know, not like she wanted to be a busy-body or anything…it's just…

"You are probably wondering about what has happened," the man said. "Not to worry, everything will be answered soon enough." She watched as he looked down at something before he returned his gaze to hers. "Do you feel well enough to sit up?"

She looked into the man's eyes with uncertainty. "I'm…not…sure…" she admitted rustily.

"Here, let me help you up," he said. He held out his hands and grasped her shoulders, and she shakily grabbed onto his forearms. Slowly, he helped her sit up. Small grunts escaped her as she was levered into a sitting position. The man patted her shoulder in comfort, and she had no idea what to make of it.

This man, she had never seen him before, never met him before, and yet he was treating her nicely?

Erica watched him closely as he walked away from her with what looked to be an iPad in hand. He put the pad off to the side before walking over to some kind of machine. She watched him closely, and was amazed when he said, "Computer, one glass of water," and a glass of water appeared on a tray under the machine.

He picked up the glass of water and walked back over to her. He held the glass out to her, and she looked at it apprehensively. Was it safe?

"Do not worry, it is safe," the man said. "You saw me get it."

Slowly, she reached out her hand and took the glass. She felt so very weak, and she had no idea why.

It took some effort, but she managed to lift the glass to her lips without spilling any of the liquid onto herself. The water soothed her throat and freed up her vocal cords. She ended up draining the cup, but her thirst was not quenched.

"Would you like some more?" he asked. At her nod, he went and got her another glass, leaving her to set the empty glass in her hand off to the side.

He came back and gave her another glass. "Any questions?"

She nodded again. "Yes…" she said quietly. She looked away from him for a second and surveyed the room. "Where…" she cleared her throat, "where am I?"

"Interesting question, my dear," the man said. "But you have the right to know. You are…" he paused, seeming to think about what he was about to say. "You are on the planet Romulus, the central planet of the Romulan Star Empire."

She stared at him. She didn't believe him, and she knew it. "I don't understand…" she swallowed thickly. "I…I went to sleep on Earth…" a shallow breath. "…And now I'm here."

There was a small silence as the man seemed to stare at her. Her heart squirmed in her chest, and she was becoming increasingly more distressed. His smile dropped slightly, flattening out. "It's going to take some time to get used to, and I understand that. But you'll need to blend in if you are going to have any chance of surviving on this planet, and in order to do that, you'll need to listen to me very carefully."

"O-okay," she replied, quietly. "But…what is your name?"

His smile returned, appearing much more comforting than before. He sat down next to her on the table before he replied. "My name is Galan, of the house of Tal'Aura. I am a scientist working on bettering the people of Romulus."

She looked at him carefully. "Do all Romulans share the features that you possess?"

"Indeed. I do hope that they do not frighten you."

She shook her head. "No, they don't." she bit her lip. "Not many things scare me…"

That made the man—the Romulan known as Galan—chuckle. "That is good. A brave girl is what is needed."

Feeling a little bit bolder, she looked up at him curiously. "Why am I here? You were going to tell me why before I interrupted."

His smile became grim and flattened out a bit again as he began to explain. This made her nervous. He explained why she was in this room—which turned out to be a lab, his lab. The thought of having woken up in a lab terrified her. Even though the man was kind and made sure that she was comfortable by offering her a glass of water, that didn't make it any less scary. The world 'lab' echoed inside her head as if Galan had been standing at the mouth of a cave and had yelled the word into it. _Lab…lab…lab…_

The tips of her ears and her forehead still felt a little uncomfortable, tingling slightly, and she wondered if he had done anything to them while she was out. She was too afraid to touch them in fear that she would feel some sort of deformity. He could have done anything to her before she had awoken, and that made her even more afraid. Did he change something? Could she trust him?

Everything in her told her not to, no matter how friendly he was acting.

Suddenly, it was getting hard to breathe. "…Many of us Romulans have never seen a human up close. But it is my goal to keep your true nature from being seen. The Council depends on—" he cut himself off when he noticed that she was breathing more rapidly. There was a panicked look on her face.

"Can't breathe. Scared," she said, trying to explain without wasting precious oxygen in the process.

An alarmed look appeared on Galan's face. Quickly, he picked something up and held it out towards her neck. This only caused her to struggle breathing even more so. She pulled away, and Galan got to his feet in order to get the thing closer to her neck. "Don't worry," the Romulan soothed. "This is a hypospray. I'll press it to your neck, and the medicine inside will help you to relax." He looked her in the eye. "Take deep breaths, Erica."

She felt something press into her neck before it hissed as it discharged. She felt the effects immediately.

A drowsy look appeared on her face as her breathing quickly returned to normal.

"Feel better?" Galan asked.

She nodded before her eyes closed and she lowered herself onto the tabletop. She was out a few seconds later.

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Galan watched as Erica slept, quickly finishing up her newly created file so that it looked like she was born and raised on Romulus. He finished with putting her new Romulan name and the date of birth in before saving and sending it away to the right people, namely, the Council that ruled Romulus. He felt slightly uncomfortable that he had to do this to the girl, but he had no choice. He thought ripping the girl from her own time and performing surgery was enough, but obviously it wasn't.

The door to his lab opened behind him, and someone strode in. They came to a stop beside him, and out of curiosity, he turned his head to look at them. He started and stood at attention when he noticed that the Romulan was Commander Sela. The blonde Romulan looked from Galan to the girl passed out on the table.

"What happened?" Sela demanded calmly. "You told me that she was going to be conscious by now."

Galan sighed. "She was conscious, Commander. But the situation overwhelmed her and I had to sedate her," he replied. He looked at the girl's peaceful face. "She has been through a lot. I don't know how she's going to pull through."

"She'll have to, Galan," Sela stated in a deadly calm voice. "Or she'll be disposed of and a new test subject will replace her." She glanced at Galan's tools. "Oh, but she might listen to you more if you insert the chip. You better install it now before she gains consciousness again."

"Yes, Commander," Galan said obediently.

"Good." And with that, the female commander turned and left the lab.

The scientist watched her go before he turned and got to work. From his surgical tools, he took out a sterilized knife before he sterilized a patch of skin near the girl's collarbone. Carefully, he made a shallow incision and slid the chip inside.

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**So, are you wondering why Erica feels weird? What's up with the chip? I'd love to hear your suggestions! Just leave a review. I love reviews…**


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